If you, like Errol Louis, have trouble comprehending the logic behind a “not-filthy-rich” person buying a $2,500 purse because you would never want that yourself, I’ll put it into language you can understand.

I was convinced that my possession of a job—any job—was nothing short of a stroke of phenomenal luck. What I discovered, though, was that there was apparently a Secret Job Finding Society in Washington, and that its members included everyone in the city but me.